AN:I know it has been a while. Bare with me here, just a little longer. I really think you'll like this chapter.
The pain was excruciating. If he lived to be a thousand years old, he was certain he would never feel anything even one tenth as painful. His cells, his DNA, even the atoms themselves screamed in anguish, begging for the pain to stop. It saturated every part of him, and that was its weakness. The completeness of his suffering allowed him to look past, see beyond it. Summoning every part of his will, he pushed the thought, the essence of the pain to the back of his mind, where he could ignore it. It fought him at every step, like a beast of suffering trying to keep from being caged. He, however, repeated the old mantra his master had taught him; The only thing that gives the pain power is my willingness to feel it. I am unwilling.
The pain raged at him, pushing harder at his control.
The only thing that gives the pain power is my willingness to feel it. I am unwilling.
It fought still harder, increasing in intensity and power.
The only thing that gives the pain power is my willingness to feel it. I am unwilling.
It tore at his consciousness, seeming to rip out chunks of his sanity with its intangible claws.
The only thing that gives the pain power is my willingness to feel it. I am unwilling.
It let out another silent roar of pain, but this time, it was impotent, hollow.
The only thing that gives the pain power is my willingness to feel it. I am unwilling.
Beaten, it receded into the depths of his mind. It was still there, but now he could safely ignore it. Other sensations began coming forward, retaking their places in his consciousness that the pain had forced them out of. Mentally, he embraced them as old friends.
His eyes were closed. That was probably for the better. He didn't imagine, with the kind of pain he had felt, that his body was in very good shape. His muscles were still locked tight, paralyzed by the agony of whatever had grabbed him. Slowly, starting at his neck, he began to relax and unlock them. He felt that his right hand held something. Not trusting his ability to open his eyes, he gripped it harder, trying to discern what it was. It felt long and round, like a cylinder, and heaver at one end. The rough texture dug into his skin. Something cool and metallic sat cross ways against his fist on the heavy end.
In a sudden flash of realization, he knew that it was a sword. Finally opening his eyes, he saw that he was wrapped in a tendril of green energy coming out of what he had thought was the vinculum. More out of instinct than anything else, he raised his sword arm, slicing through energy. He felt resistance as it went through, causing the tentacle to spark and flicker. It released him, withdrawing back into the device.
Siegel landed heavily. He looked up and saw Spike, Meps, and Vasquez caught in the same energy. As quickly as he could, he got to his feet and raised his sword with the intention of cutting the others free. Before the blade came down, all three of his companions disintegrated.
The device stopped glowing.
Riker sat on the bridge of the Enterprise, barking out orders to his crew. Just after the teams had transported over, the shields had gone up.
"How is that possible?" Riker asked, "I thought Meps and Vasquez destroyed the generators."
"They did, Sir," Ensign Donaldson, the junior ops officer answered, "These are a completely different set of shields."
Riker checked the panel in the arm of his chair, "How is it being generated?"
Donaldson looked over his console, "Uh, unkown, Sir. The power seems to be perfectly distributed across the surface of the main sphere. I can't find a point of origin."
The bridge rocked and sparks exploded from several consoles, causing the crew members at them to fall back.
"Direct hit," Kotor reported, "Shields down to eighty-nine percent."
"Keep looking," Riker ordered Donaldson, "Tenpenny, roll the ship. I want our strongest shield facing those disruptors, and right now that's our underbelly. Keep us between them and Worf."
"I'll do my best, Captain," the helmsman answered, "But that last part is kind of up to him."
"Dammit Lieutenant, just DO IT!" Riker barked.
"Doctor to the Captain," the comm. chirped.
Riker rolled his eyes, "We're a little busy up here, Doctor."
"I realize that, Captain. But I think I have something that will help."
The Doctor scanned the latest patient to enter sickbay, "Second degree plasma burns to the face and neck," he told Nurse Kwon, "He'll need surgery. Prep him"
He moved to a man with a mangled left arm. "What happened?" he asked.
The man seemed only able to moan in response. Another man, a crewman the Doctor didn't recognize, answered for him, "We were running down section twenty-two of deck fifteen when the bulkhead exploded. The roof collapsed and a support beam fell on his arm. I did my best to get him out as carefully as I could."
The Doctor looked to one of the other nurses, Ensign Anderson, "Prepare him for amputation. I'll clone a new arm and attach it later."
He stood to walk to his instrument trey, but a voice stopped him, "Is he going to be okay, Doc?"
The Doctor turned around. With a reassuring smile, he placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, "He'll be fine. When this is over, his biggest concern will be with getting used to his new arm." The crewman seemed to relax, so the Doctor turned back around and reached for a hypospray. As he did, something caught his eye. Not sure what it was, he scanned the area around his office door. A flutter of…something moved just inside the doorway. He walked toward his office, visually scanning the area. The second time he saw it, he could have sworn it was the tale of someone's white robe. He moved to see fully into his office looking for who was in there. He stopped at the threshold and looked in.
No one was in his office.
As he stepped into the room, the ship rocked violently something was thrown from his desk. For some reason, it drew his attention. He picked it up and saw that it was wrapped in a piece of paper. The Doctor looked closer and saw that there was writing on it. He unwrapped the paper, revealing a small, clear stone. He read the words on the paper and immediately tapped his comm. badge.
"Doctor to the Captain," he said.
"We're a little busy up here, Doctor," came the response.
The Doctor sighed, "I realize that, Captain. But I think I have something that will help." The ship rumbled, as if in response.
"What do you have?" Riker asked.
"There was a stone left on my desk. It was wrapped in a note, written in what looks like the same handwriting as the others," the Doctor read from the note, "'To the Reluctant Captain, this stone will enhance your weapons for a single shot. Use it wisely.'"
Riker was silent for a time. The Doctor could almost see him sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, stroking his beard in thought.
"I'm going to take a chance and guess that we need to load that stone into a torpedo," he finally said, "Get it to the torpedo launchers, Doctor."
"Yes Sir," the Doctor said, tapping his badge to close the channel. Stepping out of his office, he handed the stone to the crewman who had brought in the patient with the mangled arm, "Get this down to the torpedo launchers as quickly as possible, Crewman. Have them load it into a quantum torpedo."
The young man took the stone without hesitation. "Yes, Sir," he said before bolting out of sickbay.
"Let's just hope it's enough."
Siegel looked around, trying to regain his bearings. The disappearance of his companions was so sudden that it didn't have time to sink in. Mentally, Siegel walled himself off from the event. He had to find the real vinculum, or its equivalent at least.
Footsteps echoed down the hall Meps and Vasquez had come from. Turning to the sound, several pale, featureless creatures marched into the room. They moved with liquid grace, flowing like several parts to one body. Reacting on instinct, he raised his sword, cutting off limbs as they neared him.
And still they came.
He didn't allow any of them any further than swords reach of him.
And still they came.
Limbs and blood like fluid covered the floor.
And still they came.
No matter how many he cut down, more replaced them. They advanced and despite fighting with everything in him, he soon found himself against a wall.
"Umm," Parsons said, "This might be why."
All three men turned to see the drive emanating a faint green hue. As they watched it got brighter.
Tuvok threw himself into the hall just as the device flashed. Hands over his head, he waited several seconds to be sure that there wasn't going to be an explosion. When he was reasonably sure it was safe, he cautiously rose to his feet. Stepping slowly into the room, his eyes combed over the area. Torik, Benjamin, and Parsons were all gone. Tuvok quickly pulled his tricorder and scanned the room. No traces of any of them. There was a small bit of relief in knowing that. If they had been disintegrated, the tricorder would have picked up traces of their molecules in the air. The question then was if they hadn't been disintegrated, where had they been transported to?
A faint life sign appeared not far from him. He aimed the tricorder at it, trying to get a fix on the location. A maze of corridors lay before him. Even with the tricorder guiding him, it would still hours to navigate. He swept his instrument over the room again, searching for anything else that might help. Tuvok's keen vision saw it before the tricorder did and he moved quickly to it. In the wall, almost completely concealed by the grooved patterns, was a hatch just under a meter tall and wide.
His tricorder told him that on the other side of the door was a tunnel similar to a Jeffries tube. Curiously, the area appeared to be a vacuum. Tuvok ran his fingers over the edges and the face, trying to determine how it would open. He eventually found a piece of it that folded in to reveal a small handle, just big enough for him to get two fingers around. Securing his grip, he pulled. The door pulled inward with sudden force, almost taking his hand with it. Air rushed past Tuvok into the now exposed tunnel. After a few seconds, the pressure equalized and the air stilled.
Extending his left hand, Tuvok scanned the interior of the tunnel. The air was breathable, but even more important was that it led in the direction of the single life sign he had picked up. He slipped into the tunnel and moved as quickly as the cramped interior would allow. Within minutes, he began hearing a person's grunts of effort, along with what sounded like muffled metal scraping on metal. Soon after, he reached what appeared to be a junction of the tunnels that offered enough room to stand, if not fully erect. It appeared to be just underneath the source of the commotion. Checking his tricorder, he could see that the human life sign was indeed directly above him. He reached up and pulled what looked like a release handle for a hatch.
If this is it, Siegel thought to himself, I'm going down fighting. That thought, cemented in his mind, pushed his arms to continue swinging the sword even though his own body felt heavier each time. A wide arc cut down four of the creatures. Several more moved to take their place, but he didn't give them the chance. His sword cut down several more, and heartened by his progress, Siegel stepped forward to regain some ground. He never got the chance. As his foot touched the ground, it fell away beneath him.
Tuvok was barely able to move aside before he was crushed by the large man falling through the hatch. Looking up, he saw more of the featureless creatures that had chased him and Torik earlier. Thinking quickly, he slammed the hatch shut and pushed the handle back into place. Logically, there would be a way to open the hatch from the other side, however, very little about this place seemed logical.
The figure at his feet moaned and rolled over onto his back. Breathing heavily, Siegel scooted so that he could sit with his back against one wall.
"Your timing…huff huff...is incredible," he said, "I…huff huff…don't think…huff huff…I would've lasted…huff huff…much longer."
"Can you stand?" Tuvok asked.
Siegel held up a finger as if to request a moment. Slowly, he pulled a hypospray from his belt and injected it into his neck. After a moment, his breathing slowed, though it hardly seemed relaxed.
"Synthetic adrenaline," Siegel answered Tuvok's unspoken question as he grabbed his sword and stood, "It degrades in my system more slowly than natural adrenaline, so it eases out the crash."
"We need to move," Tuvok said.
"Which way?" the big man asked.
Tuvok scanned the area with his tricorder. "I am not detecting any other life signs, but logic dictates that the control center would be somewhere near the center of this sphere, which would be that way," he pointed toward one of the tunnels. Siegel held out an arm, inviting him to lead the way.
"Crewman Charles to the Bridge," the comm chirped.
"Go ahead, Crewman," Riker answered.
"The stone has been loaded into a torpedo, Sir. It is ready to fire on your command."
Kotor spoke up, "I'm not seeing any openings, Captain."
"Confirmed," Donaldson said, "The shield has remained intact and completely stable since it went up. Our weapons are having no effect."
The ship shook violently, knocking several people off balance. Riker barely managed to hold his seat. "Are our weapons being absorbed?"
"No sir," Kotor answered, "It's like throwing pebbles at a brick wall. It's almost as though our weapons aren't even hitting the shield."
Riker sighed. They couldn't continue like this. The Enterprise was a powerful ship, but she wasn't invincible.
"Kotor," he barked, "Pick a spot on the shielding. I want you to fire that torpedo and I want everything we have to follow as close behind as possible."
"Yes, Sir," he said, typing commands into the tactical console, "Ready."
Riker said a single word, "Fire."
Spike wasn't sure exactly when he regained consciousness. He only just realized that he was awake. Trying to move, he realized his hands were bound out to the sides and his feet were stuck together below him, almost as though he had been crucified. He saw right away that it was not rope or even nails that held him in place, but tendrils of magick.
On his left, he saw Benjamin and Meps. The one he didn't know was on his right. They were coming around as well. Spike pulled against his restraints, but the instant he did, what felt like direct sunlight scorched his skin at his wrists. He gritted his teeth against the pain and pulled harder. He didn't move, but the pain intensified.
"Don't pull too hard, Spike," a hauntingly familiar voice said, "I wouldn't want you to turn to ash before I've had my fun."
Lights, almost blindingly bright, illuminated a raised platform. The first thing Spike saw was a cylindrical tank with an unconscious, naked woman. It was full of some kind of liquid and seemed just big enough to house its single occupant. She was rather shapely, if a bit older, with blond hair and what appeared to be metal implants in various parts of her body. Wires ran from the top of the cylinder and connected to the implants next to her right ear and above her left eye.
A figure moved out from behind the tank. From behind the lights, Spiked could only see a silhouette of someone in a dress. It walked slowly, seeming to savor the anticipation. As the figure stepped slowly into the light, the darkness pulled back like a curtain. First revealed was a forest green dress, then a wide belt cinching it at the waist, then a black shawl covering otherwise bare shoulders. Finally, as she stepped fully into the light, Spike looked at her face a gasped aloud.
"Spike," she said, "You don't look happy to see me. I've missed you all these years."
Spike, for the first time in many centuries, couldn't find his voice. Nothing could have prepared him for, once again, coming face to face with Willow Rosenberg.
AN:Did you get chills? Probably not. Please let me know what you think. This story is very close to the end. I really do appreciate all of the reviews so far.